If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
How does one conduct herself each day among such partisanship, isolation, domestic and international disasters, and what seems like the daily fracturing not only of our nation, but also of our relationship with other nations? It's been a harrowing week trying to figure all of this out -- here's what I've established.
The debate over fiscal responsibility has been muddled by the Great Recession; inevitably, perhaps, arguments over long-term fiscal problems have been conflated with debates over short-term recovery programs. Both debates have suffered terribly as a consequence.
We've elected and reelected Congress people that we regularly rate lower than any time in history. What are we waiting for to make a change -- another crisis?
Just as we can all agree with then-presidential candidate Barack Obama that Ronald Reagan was a transformational president, so we can also draw inspiration from others before him like Harry Truman.
A LIRP is a very powerful yet fairly basic financial planning tool that has been used to solve myriads of financial planning goals for decades. It's kind of like baking soda. Every household in America has one yet uses it a little differently.
It's been said the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. While I can't help you avoid physical death, I can help you avoid paying taxes at retirement.
Fiscal cliffs as far as the eye can see are the deeply troubling outcome of the Great Deformation. They are the result of capture of the state, especially its central bank, the Federal Reserve, by crony capitalist forces deeply inimical to free markets and democracy.
There are four dangerous fiscal fables afloat. Paul Krugman, who has been pleading for more deficit spending on a continuous basis in his New York Times column, is hawking all four fables. Pity our children if our policymakers continue to take his views seriously.
Until leading politicians reach the right balance of tax increases and spending cuts, any chance of long-term sustainability and returning to a Standard and Poor's AAA sovereign credit rating is slim.
With the economy showing signs of recovery, it's high time that our federal lawmakers move beyond these self-induced crises and begin to talk about tax reform that can help taxpayers move forward with a clear understanding of how the tax code works and how much they owe.
Obama changed political gears last week, and decided to take a new direction in his dealings with Republicans in Congress. This "charm offensive" will either later be seen as a meaningless photo-op gesture, or a brilliant strategic maneuver on the political chessboard. Time will tell.
The sequestration's full effects are not all clear, but it will severely impede scientific progress across the country, along with various public health programs.
What happened? How did "sequestration" -- a banal, bureaucratic, deliberately opaque word -- replace "fiscal cliff" in the media and in Congress?
With gridlock and malicious behavior paralyzing our government, it is now up to we, the people, to become more visible and vocal, to show Congress what needs to be done. Here are some thoughts and ideas on where we need to go from here, and how we can become involved.
No matter how well intentioned (and politically appealing), protecting individual values in isolation of the consequence to other values can never be as optimal as making decisions with the full system in view and on the table.
We've criticized both the president's handling of this situation and the media's reporting of it. But, in the end, this is an act of Congress. Congress passed the bill that put these cuts into effect, and it can repeal that bill -- today, if it so chooses.
